Eliud Kipchoge beaten as Shura Kitata takes title
World record holder Eliud Kipchoge was beaten in the London Marathon as Shura Kitata won a thrilling sprint finish to claim an unexpected victory.
Four-time winner Kipchoge was the favourite, but fell behind with two laps to go and finished eighth.
Ethiopian Kitata pushed ahead of Kenya’s Vincent Kipchumba on the home straight to finish in two hours five minutes and 41 seconds.
Brigid Kosgei, who holds the women’s world record, defended her title.
Both races were run in cold and wet conditions on a specially designed closed-loop
course because of coronavirus restrictions. The women’s race started at 07:15 BST with the men’s following three hours later.
But the 35-year-old Kenyan,
who set a world record of 2:01.39 in 2018, never took the opportunity to pull away from an eight-strong leading pack in a slow start.